Category Archives: Technology

Off the Record

Google Talk has this interesting “Off the Record” feature, which prevents a conversation from being saved on google’s servers. Unfortunately, this doesn’t prevent either party from highlighting and copying and pasting.

Like so:

Party1: So.
I just watched the lost episode with extra INCEST.
Sent at 4:59 PM on Friday
Party2: ah, that one
Party1: Well.
You are now off the record (from now on, chats with Party2 will not be saved in Party2’s Gmail account or yours) Learn more Cancel
Party2: Can you blame him?
This chat is no longer off the record
Party2: yea. Shes a total bitch
Party1: Totally.

Just a reminder that if you don’t want it on the internet, don’t put it on the internet.

OMG!!11oneone

Woohoo! Open federation for google talk. What does this mean?

One protocol to rule them all. Or, at least the first steps along that path.

In theory, provided that all IM services used the same protocol, you could log onto Yahoo! and chat with someone using Windows Messenger.

At the moment, I require six different accounts to chat. That’s a little out of hand. I have AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Messenger, ICQ, GTalk, and World of WarCraft. Worst instant messaging client. Ever. But I do need it to talk to certain people.

With open federation, chatting would be like sending an email. It wouldn’t matter which service I use.

In addition to convenience, I think that open federation would lend a sense of legitimacy to instant messaging. Something sorely lacking when one thinks about the perceived “life experience level” of the average chat participant.

(i dnt no wht ur tlkng abt lolol. asl?)

So bring on open federation. It’s about time.

Google Earth

I managed to get the Google Earth installer a while back, but have only been able to play with it since I got back from July 4th weekend.

In short: It is amazing.

I can’t even quantify how cool it is to be in orbit, sixteen thousand miles above the surface of the earth, then be able to drill down to see my office parking lot and be able to tell who was at work that day.

I just found the house in San Diego using landmarks.

The images are disturbingly wonderful. The user interface is good, although I don’t know how they could make it better. You basically drag yourself through the world with the mouse. The program itself is good fun, and it gives you a sense of perspective, in the truest sense of the word.

4 years later. . .

In 2001 Dean Kamen said he would unveil a device that would revolutionize our lives.

He released the Segway, the self balancing Human Transporter.

Four years later, the majority of us are still walking to work, riding bicycles, and driving cars. His Human Transporter remains on the fringe of our society’s commuting habits, and did little to no revolutionizing.

Which is unfortunate, because the Segway is a lot of fun to ride.

Yesterday, I had about five minutes with a Segway, on Rockville Pike between the White Flint Metro Stop and the L’Chaim Gallery. I saw the gentleman riding and asked him about his Segway. Turns out he rides the train all the way into the city, and then uses the Segway to get to the train and back.

I asked him about what it’s like to be the early adopter.

“There are stares,” he said, but for the most part he’s enjoying his commute. He notes that he’s only fallen once, and that was when he was showing off. “Want to try it out?” He asked. “I can put it in beginner mode. It will take you about 10 seconds to balance yourself out.”

I nodded. I asked about my backpack, and whether or not it would throw the balance off.

“It doesn’t matter,” he replied.

I’ve seen the videos. There are children in my neighborhood that have them. Now, here was the chance to try one out. I know it can balance. I want to believe that it can. I think briefly, “It only has two wheels. How can it balance?

I closed my eyes and reached for the handle bars. I hoped that the best thing to do was just get on the damn thing. I wobbled for about five seconds, and then I opened my eyes. I was upright, and the Segway was too.

It felt like I was on a stepstool. A wobbly one, maybe one with one leg just half a centimeter shorter than the others. I wasn’t moving forward or backward. After a few seconds the wobbling occurred with less frequency.

“Now lean forward a little bit,” he said.

I leaned forward and then I found I was moving. Not too quickly, since the Segway was set to Beginner Mode. In this mode, it focuses more on auto correction rather than forward movement.

He walked alongside. “The nice thing about beginner mode,” he said, “is that people can’t ride off with your Segway, either.” We laughed. I tried leaning forward more and more, but I never got any faster than a brisk walk. He would have been able to catch me easily.

The sky is partly cloudy, but for the first time in a long time, the temperature felt like Spring.

I steer a bit with the left handle. It’s very responsive. I stop moving and rotate all the way around. I begin to feel a bit disoriented, but as soon as I stop rotating, I feel fine.

There are major cracks and divots in the sidewalk, but the Segway’s large tires take them with no problems.

I rode (he walked) the length of the Nuclear Research Commission building. All too soon we’re at the end. I stepped off the Segway.

“Well,” I say. “thanks for the demonstration.”

“My pleasure.”

He turned around after fiddling with the keys and wheeled off at a speed far faster than I ever reached.

Now I had to walk the rest of the way to White Flint mall. Which was not a horrible thing. After all, it was a nice day.

After having ridden the HT, I feel that it is a fantastic application of technology. However, that innovation comes with a price tag to match. The upcoming model is listed on Amazon, just a penny under five thousand dollars.

That is a lot of money. But if you ever want to ride one there’s a Segway dealership in the Georgetown Park Mall. I may go at some point in the next few weeks, maybe hit Old Glory afterward.

I’m just going to be there to check it out.

The revolution is a ways off. Cities need to be built with bikes, Segways and scooters in mind. Legislation could ban Segways outright. Does America really need another way to avoid exercise?

Besides, the revolution needs a more attractive price point.

Greater than the sum of

The day is here, and now I find myself at the apex of “mein gadgetlusten.”

Embarrasingly, and not surprisingly, I really want a PSP. Well, more accurately, one part of me does.

Part of me says, “Oh, hey, just stop by Best Buy–she’ll probably have one, that bitch knows everyone. But you can buy one, then sell it for twice the price on eBay! It’s not an impulse buy, it’s an investment. They’re not due to have any more until May! MAY!”

That part is lying.

If I get my hands on a PSP, I am opening that sucker up and playing Lumines (apparently pronounced, “Loo-mines” according to SONY).

I would like to separate that part of my consciousness. It’s responsible for things like owning almost every iteration of the Aiptek Pencam. I also have not one, but two copies of Stephen King’s Bag of Bones. That part is screaming inside, saying that “You will die if X isn’t in your possession right now. you will be less of a man. X will make you complete.”

That part has issues. A lot of Madison Avenue to work though. But I think he’ll be okay if he makes it through his lunch hour without accidentally stopping by the Best Buy near work.

That part wants to address the rest of you. He says, “I, for one, welcome our new, tiny, shiny, sexy SONY branded handheld convergent media entertainment device overlords.”